1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of computer processing and electronic map displays. More particularly, and without limitation, the present disclosure relates to computerized systems and methods for generating electronic map displays based on, for example, points-of-interest (POI) density, route distance, and/or distances of POIs from reference locations.
2. Background Information
Today, electronic map displays are widely used to convey information about roads, traffic, buildings, landmarks, terrain, etc., related to geographical regions of interest. Interactive maps may allow a user, for example, to access a map of a particular location (e.g., specific address, city, state, country, etc.) and the surrounding locations. After accessing a location, a user may navigate around the location by zooming in and out, and scrolling left, right, up, and down on the map. A user may also use the map to retrieve directions/routes between two or more locations. Because of their versatility, electronic map displays are used in a variety of different computer systems and applications. For example, electronic map displays are used in personal navigation devices to convey driving and/or walking directions to the user. In addition, electronic map interfaces are available from a variety of Internet resources (e.g., www.mapquest.com) for use by the public.
Interactive maps may also provide information about various POIs near a location selected or specified by a user. A POI may be, for example, a specific entity or attraction that is useful or interesting to an individual or a group of individuals, or that the individual or the group may want to visit. By way of example, POIs on a map display may represent gas stations, rest areas, hotels, restaurants, museums, hospitals, historical sites in a specific geographic area, houses for sale, etc. A POI may also correspond to a movie theater showing a particular film, a restaurant that serves a specific type of food, such as pizza, etc.
A user may search for specific POIs that the user wants to locate by entering information for a query. Search results for identified POIs may be provided to a user based on the query. The search results may be within either search boundaries set by an arbitrary radius (e.g., 1 mile, 5 miles, 10 miles, etc.) from a location, a geographic region (e.g., neighborhood, city, etc.) defined by a polygon, or an arbitrary polygon (e.g., square, etc.) surrounding a location. As a result, POIs that are outside a search boundary are not provided to the user. In addition, a user is denied the opportunity to consider POIs that might better fit the user's preferences based on the query and/or based on the route on which the user is driving. At the same time, when a user expands the geographic scope of search results, a user is often provided with an electronic map display that is crowded with too many POIs that are unappealing to the user.
Further, as the number of POIs represented increases, electronic map displays may become cluttered and difficult to read. For example, if a user searches for “pizza” in New York City, the number of POI icons shown on the map display may be quite large, rendering the map display unwieldy and difficult to read. At the same time, some POI icons may overlap one another, hiding some information that may be of interest to the user. In contrast, when searching for POIs within rural areas or along routes of great distance, conventional map displays may determine that no POIs are available within the search boundaries and/or may display POIs that may require the user to take a long detour away from the route, causing inconvenience to the user.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for improved techniques for generating electronic map displays. Preferably, such techniques should be more efficient, while also providing relevant or useful search results in comparison to that provided by conventional methods. Moreover, there is a need for improved methods and systems for providing search results of relevant POIs in response to a query from a user that are not necessarily limited to search boundaries and account for POI density, the distance of the route, and distances of POIs from reference locations along the route.